Focus!

Have you ever found that when you need to do something very important, but you don't want to, that you can't seem to keep your attention on that thing, despite your most earnest efforts?  As a completely hypothetical and unrelated example, let's say you have two 12 page research papers to write by the end of next week.  If you just do a little bit each day, you'll be able to make it through without having to pull any of those caffeine-supported all-nighters next week.  You know that in order to maintain your sanity and to enjoy your Thanksgiving break in a few days (again, this is all hypothetical people), you need to accomplish one seemingly simple task before you leave the library today:  Write the first four pages of one of your research papers.  You already have an outline, you have all the research done, you have quotes nicely lined up on a page, your bibliography is complete.  All you have to do is write dangit! But for some reason, every two lines of writing, you have to keep fighting the urge to turn to check your Facebook page, or watch a video on YouTube, or email a long lost friend, or google some completely random and meaningless trivia you've been thinking about....anything to divert your attention from your paper! And the thought of being at home, curled up with some cookies and cocoa, watching a movie on the couch sounds really, really, tantalizing.  All the while, you're thinking, "Silly me, if I would just buckle down and do this thing, I could be out of this stinkin' cold, crusty library and at home doing just that! This is my last homework for today! You can't afford to push this off till tomorrow! Just do it! It's already 4:00 you fool! You've been here for hours! Get this done before it's dark outside please!"  And, hypothetically speaking, your focus is so hard to manage that you might even find yourself blogging about how your focus is hard to manage.  Has such a ridiculous, and completely fictional experience ever happened to you?  Pshaw! Of course not. That's absurd. Hypothetical....